How They Met
by Arathelightningqueen
Summary: The story of how Alister and Pearl met. Roleplay story with Turquoiselombax.
1. Prologue

**Warning: this story contains suicidal thoughts.**

Disclaimer: Pearl does not belong to me, she belongs to my friend Turquoiselombax

This is a roleplay my friend Turquoiselombax and I are making into a story. You can also find it on Wattpad on Turquoiselombax's profile :)

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She lay face down on her bed, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed. Tears poured from her tightly shut eyes and rolled down her face, continuing to soak the pillow she had her arms wrapped around.

The girls name was Pearl, she had large brown eyes, straight black hair, caramel coloured skin and an abusive mother...

The same thoughts that always plagued her after an argument were swirling around in her mind, driving her insane. Pearl had definitely had enough of this. Every time she even tried to talk with her mother she would yell, scream, swear and call her names. This time wasn't any different.

She had been in this same position for the past hour, and the only conclusion her brain had come to was that something needed to change, and it wasn't going to be her mum.

She kept thinking about it, she had to leave but she didn't know where to go. She was afraid someone would find her and send her back to her mum. There was basically nowhere to go, but she had to leave one way or another.

Teetering between her two potential options, she finally made a decision.

Sniffing, she slowly and shakily got up off the bed and walked over to her drawer. She opened it up and inside lay a gun, very carefully hidden and well looked after. She had been keeping it here for a situation just like this.

Taking it nervously in her hands felt slightly wrong. It felt heavy and cold, small and very powerful... Feeling almost unable to stand for she was shaking so bad, Pearl sat back down on her bed to observe the gun she was holding. She had heard it was a fairly painless way to die- or quick at least anyway. If someone heard the shot and came into her room it would already be too late. It was a good way to do it.

She wasn't really sure if she was ready to give up or not, something about it tugged at her, but something else about it felt so wrong.

"I was expecting that." She whispered at herself as she loaded it and brought it up to her head with her finger carefully placed on the trigger.

Her heart beat fast and she held her breath as she got ready to leave forever... But she found herself taking another breath before she was able to pull the trigger.

"Okay one more try..." She whispers as she stiffens in preparation once again. Her finger pressed slightly down on the trigger, but she found she couldn't bring herself to move it any further.

A fresh set of tears started sliding down her face as she lowered the gun and realised she wouldn't be able to do it. "What's wrong..?" She quietly cried to herself. "Why can't I just..?"

After a minute she officially gave up on that and sighed. She opened the gun up and emptied the bullets out into her hand, walking back over to her drawer to put them back in the box.

She still had to leave though, if not one way then the other, so as quick as she could she emptied out her school backpack and started packing. Money, change of clothes, water, some food, gun, bullets, phone, charger, one or two pieces of valuable jewellery. Is that all she would need? The clothes took up most of the space in her bag, and the water made it heavy, so that would have to do.

She wouldn't be able to leave her room without her mother seeing her, but her window was big enough for her to climb out of. She opened it up and threw her backpack out first, wincing as hit the ground with a thud. But she didn't waste any time worrying, she went right out after it and fast as she could, ducked around the fence where her mum wouldn't be able to see.

She took one last look at her house, and wiped the rest of the tears from her face. "I'm glad to leave." She whispered. "I'm not sad."

Pearl tries her best to hide from the neighbors in search of a better place. Hours has passed and it was night time. She was thirsty and exhausted panting. Pearl spots a spacecraft nearby and finds a way to sneak in.

She observers the machine with a strange sense of interest. It had taken them ages, but people had finally invented something that could travel at light speed and all you had to do was push the button. A lot of people had already gone but no one had found anything. It didn't matter to Pearl though, all she wanted was to leave this planet, one way or another.


	2. Chapter 1

Alister shuffled a pile of papers in a weak attempt to neaten up his desk. He never had been good at keeping things orderly. He wished he could have had a different job, any job other than this but it was all he could get at the time when he needed a job.

Jarvis was working in the cube next to him. It was hard to keep a job and he had 5 kids to take care of. Jarvis was not as neat as Alister but he made sure he got the work done.

In a room full of busy Terachnoids, Alister and Jarvis sort of stood out. With Alister being a Lombax and Jarvis being a Terachnoid with below average Terachnoid level intelligence, there was no one else quite like either of them in the building.

Jarvis peered over the top of the cube to ask Alister a question. "So Azimuth what are you going to do after work?"

"What do you think I'm doing Jarvis? I'm going home and having a beer." Azimuth replied.

"Like always. Don't you think that lifestyle will get boring to you? You need to get out and live life."

"I do get out and do things- on the weekends when I have the time. Now would you stop trying to be my life coach and get back to work before the boss comes in to sack us." Alister growled.

"And that's why you need a girlfriend you are so grumpy!" Jarvis replied. "You are a grumpy lombax." Jarvis repeated as he sat back down in his seat.

Alister rolled his eyes and got back to what he was doing. 'I'm not grumpy.' He thought. 'And if I was, its because I'm stuck here shuffling paperwork instead of doing a real job.'

Jarvis got up to go and get a drink of water.

The boss came into the room and walked up to Alister. "Mr Azimuth, I'm afraid we need to have a talk about something." He started.

Of course. A feeling of dread came over Alister. "What's wrong?"

"Well we are just starting to have a breakthrough in our study, our workers have come up with a very... dangerous piece of equipment which its sole purpose is for defence, and used in the wrong way could be disastrous."

Jarvis turns around to listening, not realising that he was overfilling his cup. "Oh dear!"

The boss quickly glances over at Jarvis who gets the water flow under control, smiles nervously and waves.

With a sigh the boss turns back to Alister. "I'm sorry Mr Azimuth, but with your past decisions considered, we have decided we need to let you go."

"What?!" Alister shoots up to stand in defence.

Jarvis drops his cup and shouted from where he was standing across the room. "What why?"

The boss shot a quick glare at Jarvis for having dropped his full cup of water on the ground but proceeded to answer the question.

"You see, it's a matter of security, we cannot allow the information on how to make such a thing fall into the wrong hands..."

"So basically you're saying you can't trust me?" Alister growled and crossed his arms.

"Personally Mr Azimuth I do trust you, but the Planetary Board of Security regarding Dangerous Equipment had already made the decision. I'm sorry, but you are fired."

"At least you get a package." Jarvis put in.

The boss turned annoyed toward the Terachnoid. "Jarvis I think we also need to have a talk, for a Terachnoid you don't seem to be doing very well. To put it gently, I'm firing you too."

"Whaaaat?!" Jarvis gaped.

"I'm not kidding. You are clumsy, slow, incompetent and... And you know what, I don't have to explain this to you. We've talked about it plenty of times before and nothing changes. It's high time I did something about it. You can pack up at the end of the day."

"You're supposed to give me notice!"

"We're paying you to leave, you can't complain."

Jarvis got on his knees and pleaded. "Don't fire me I got 5 kids! Once of them eats five times a day instead of three!"

"Get up Jarvis, you're being ridiculous. You will have plenty of time to find a job fit for your particular skill level."

Jarvis sat in his rolling chair and crossed his arms. "No I'm not going anywhere!"

The boss growled. "Security!"

It wasn't too long before a rather large security guard appeared to 'escort' Jarvis and Alister out.

"What good were you thinking that was going to do Jarvis?" Alister asked.

"Keep my job!" Jarvis yelled

"Yeah right, when the boss says you're fired, you are fired!"

Jarvis sighs. "I guess you're right. I'll see you soon Azimith."

Jarvis begins to walk toward his ship. Alister watched him go to his ship and begins to walk towards his own. Alister was equally unsure what he was going to do. Soon his lights, water and electricity would be out and he was just be living in a dark hovel. Alister decided to take a walk to get his mind off of things.


	3. Chapter 2

Walking around on Torren IV there were many things to see but none took his mind off his troubles, let along gave him an answer for what to do. Despite his boss being so sure they would find work, jobs were scarce. He would need to work hard to find himself something.

Suddenly as he was walking he heard somebody scream. His ears perked and as fast as he could, he located the sound in between two large cliffs.

In front of him were two monsters, swiping at a girl who was standing on top of what appeared to be a small space craft.

"Get away from me!" The girl demanded throwing pieces of rocks at the creatures as they continued to advance on her.

Alister didn't have his Praetorian Wrench with him as they weren't allowed at his workplace, but he went right over to the things and fought them with his bare hands. The monsters lunged at him with their large teeth and sharp claws, but Alister was quick. He jumped on top of one, grabbed it around the neck and chocked it to death, and while the other one was distracted, the girl on top of the spacecraft dropped an exceptionally large rock on it and it fell to the ground.

Her mouth dropped as she never seen a creature like this before. She was not expecting to see life on other planets and she was quite impressed that the creature could fight like that.

Alister stood up off of the defeated monster and walked towards the human girl. "Do you need a hand?" He asked, offering his hand to help her get down from where she stood.

The girl's mouth was still hanging open, and she did not move. "It talks!" She thought to herself. "You are not going to hurt me are you?" She questioned

Alister laughed. "I'm but an ex rebel sweetheart, I only kill when I need to." He says as he gestures towards the two monsters lying still on the ground. "But that one there isn't really dead, he's just unconscious, so if you're not sure where you are, you should probably come with me."

"Okay" She agreed sweetly. "Catch me." She called as she was about to jump from the small space craft

Alister was caught by surprise, but he managed to catch the girl before she hit the ground.

"Thanks." She replied out of breath. Alister stares at the girl examining how she looks. He couldn't see any visible injuries, so he had thankfully gotten to her in time to prevent it. Otherwise, she was brown with medium length hair, beautiful dark eyes and she was about 5'6.

"What's your name?" She suddenly asked.

"General Alister Azimuth- at your service." He replied.

"I--I'm Pearl it's nice to meet you." Pearl replied with her voice a little wobbly.

"Pearl, that's a nice name. May I ask how you came to be stuck on top of a wrecked spacecraft surrounded by monsters on Torren Four?" He asked her.

"I ran away from home.."

Alister realised this girl was obviously quite young. "How... How old are you?" He asked.

"I'm 14." She answered.

"Where are you from? Why did you run away??" Alister was growing more concerned.

"Planet Earth. I ran away because of my mom." Pearl said with tears forming in her eyes.

Alister had never heard of this planet. "What galaxy is this planet in..? What did your mother do?" The idea in his head was to return the distressed girl to her family.

Pearl didn't respond she did not want to talk about it now.

"Pearl? Tell me where you are from. I have to take you home before you get hurt."

"No!" Pearl shouts with a couple tears running down her face. "I don't want to go home."

"I'm sure your parents are worried sick, whatever happened they will sort it out."

Pearl gets even more mad and stomps away from Alister.

"Wait a second!" Alister quickly grabs the girls arm, which only really serves to make her more agitated but it was necessary. "I can't let you go off on your own out there. There are monsters and crevices and sharp things around everywhere, along with Tetramites. You don't want to know what those things can do. Why don't you just come back to my place until we figure out what to do?"

Pearl shrugged her shoulders and nodded. She thought to herself she might as well go with him, as she was hungry and he might have some food for her at his house.

Alister ponders whether to take her to his ship and fly back, or walk straight over to his house. It was probably about the same distance to either destination, so he decided to lead her to the house and get the ship back later.

She enters his house and has a look around. She has not seen anything like this of course. "Um... Mr. Azimuth?" Pearl questioned in a nervous tone.

"You can call me Alister if you like." The Lombax said as he put his keys away. His calm casual tone made her feel a bit more comfortable to ask.

"No..no Mr. Azimuth is find to me.. um I'm hungry." Pearl said showing him her stomach.

Alister turned to look at the girl and realised she was showing her belly. At first he was very confused as to why she would find it necessary to do that, thought it was probably something to do with her species and then shocked at how thin she was!

"Oh why didn't you say so sooner? How long since you last ate? What would you like?" Alister asked as he beckoned her to follow him into the kitchen.

"I don't know.." Pearl replied. Her depression was getting the best of her on Planet Earth so she wasn't able to eat a lot. "Well what do you have?" Pearl asked hoping it will be something she will enjoy eating.

"I have cheesecake in the fridge. There's salad, left over chicken parmigiana but you probably don't want leftovers... There's some soft drink in here too unless you want some tea? There's probably junk food in the cupboard too."

Pearl went through his fridge, found the chicken parmigiana, a soft drink and a chocolate pie. She put the chicken parmigiana in the microwave and warmed it up before sitting down and eating.

Alister smiled and thought she looked quite content there for the time being. He went up to his room to change into his casual clothes.

Ten minutes later Pearl was done with her food and Alister came out with new clothes.

"How was that? Taste good?" He asked her.

"Yes." She smiled. "Thanks.. Um where is the restroom?"

"Oh, it's just through that door over there." Alister pointed.

Pearl walked to the restroom and closed the door. She stared at herself in the mirror and saw how dirty she was. She opened the door to ask. "Hey Mr. Azimuth, is it okay if I take a shower as well?"

"Oh there's no shower in there, but if you want to do that I can take you to the upstairs bathroom." Alister suggested.

"Okay you can show me around your house while we walk upstairs." Pearl agreed.

"Alright then, well as you can see the kitchen and lounge room are very open. That's just about everything on this floor but the garage." Alister lead Pearl up the stairs.

"So there's a spare bedroom right there, and the bathroom is here. My room is the next one up." Alister stopped at the bathroom door to let her in. "There aren't any spare towels in there, mine's the white one. I'll go get you a different one."

"Okay I'll use the restroom while you go and get the towel." Pearl said entering the restroom. She finished up washing her hands. Pearl got out of the restroom and decided to be nosy while Alister was downstairs getting her a towel.

She looked around and decided to go inside the upstairs spare room and she saw how big the room was, which brought quite a shock to her. She them went and had a look inside Alister's room. She saw a picture of him with another lombax and took the pocket watch in her hand. "Hm I wonder what species he is? I'll ask him later." She set down his watch and headed toward his window to look out of. "This is a nice view."

"It sure is." Alister smiled.

Pearl was startled and she fell to the ground. "Oh sorry."

"What my room looks like is no secret if that's what you're worried about." Alister chuckled.

"Yeah it's messy just like the rest of the house." Pearl said as she got back onto her feet.

Alister threw her the towel. "Why don't you go get in the shower you little scamp." He laughed.

Pearl caught the towel and got up. "Sure thing!"

She went to take a shower and Alister went back downstairs.

By the time she got out, Alister had already washed her clothes and laid them on the counter while she was bathing.

He had been thinking about what he should do with Pearl. Whether he should ask her about where she lives again, or why she ran away? He didn't really know what he should do if he couldn't get her back home.

Alisters ears perked as the girl came back down the stairs.

He decided not to ask about her past right now. He knew that would only upset her, and he had to handle the situation carefully. He decided he would try to look for an orphanage for her. If she wasn't going to tell him, she might tell them. Either that or she would need to go to one anyway. She was too young to be out on her own.

"Did you have a nice shower?" He asked instead.

"Yes." Pearl smiled. Alister smiled back at her, as he just adored her lovely smile.

"Did you see the spare room upstairs?" Alister asked her. He had decided he was going to offer her a place to sleep for the night. He really didn't want to let the girl back out there amongst such danger and darkness, but he couldn't force her to stay so he would offer. "If you wanted it to be, it could be your room for the night. Until we found you somewhere else to go."

Pearl nodded in agreement. "But there is no bed... We should go shopping for one."

"It's too late to go out. I did intend to make a bed for that room at some point, but I have a sleeping bag in the cupboard and some spare pillows, how does that sound?"

"It sounds good." She confirmed.

Alister lead her back up the stairs and into the room. He himself went back to the cupboard to get a sleeping bag and some pillows out. He took them into the spare room and gave them to Pearl to let her set herself up.

She set them up and began to fluff the pillow. She yawned as she lay her head down on the pillow. "I'm going to go to bed now if that's alright with you?"

"Of course." Alister nodded. She must've had a long day.

"Goodnight Mr. Azimuth. Thank you for giving me a place to stay." She said as she closed her eyes.

"Goodnight Pearl." Alister replied. He would have to find her somewhere else tomorrow.


End file.
